The Minority Ethnic Elders Advocacy (MEEA) Project is a 3-year Consortium Project funded by the Big Lottery Fund, now in its second year. The MEEA Project is a partnership initiative between four Race/Regional Equality Councils/Networks based in Wales: Race Equality First as the Lead Partner; Swansea Bay Regional Equality Council; North Wales Regional Equality Network and SEWREC.

Swansea Bay Regional Equality Council now wish to recruit for the following post:

A series of Advice Cafes have been organised by Swansea Bay REC teams dealing with hate crime/incidents and elder advocacy projects. The advice cafes will be staffed by officers from our Voices Have Spoken (VHS) team and the Minority Ethnic Elders Advocacy Team. Please see the PDF document on the link provided to read more about this new initiative from Swansea Bay REC staff which takes our services to the heart of the community in venues across the Neath Port Talbot and Swansea areas.

“Helping ethnic minority elders to say what they want, secure their rights, represent their interests and obtain services they need” – these are the ethos of this new project being delivered in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot.

The MEEA project is an all Wales project funded by the Big lottery Fund for 3 years under Advantage Funding, based in various locations including Swansea. During this time Swansea Bay REC’s part of the project aims to carry out: Advocacy on behalf of ‘Ethnic Minority Elders’ (MEE) on a variety of issues.

Do you find it difficult to access services you need or feel you have been treated unfairly? Have you or someone you know suffered a hate crime and don’t know what to do about it? ‘Voices Have Spoken’ officers can provide advice, guidance and support.

Come and join us at one of our drop-in-sessions for a cuppa and a chat.

Venue: Dyfatty Community Centre, Greenhill Road, Swansea, SA1 1QW.

Dates: Tuesdays 4th & 18th Nov, 2nd & 16th Dec.

Time: Between 10am to 11.30am

Venue: Spark Blaenymaes, 87 Broughton Avenue, SA5 5JS

Dates: 28th Oct, 11th & 25th Nov, 9th Dec

Time: Between 10am & 11.30am

Delivered by a team of officers from Swansea Bay Regional Equality Council, Voices Have Spoken’ aims to achieve improved community cohesion by providing access to advocacy, advice and guidance service to people experiencing hate crime and discrimination on the basis of their disability, race and religion.

We are appalled to have witnessed the murder of an innocent man in Woolwich last night. Said Taha Idris, the Chief Executive of Swansea Bay REC, “Our thoughts go out to the family and friends of the victim. It is an appalling act that we do not expect to see on our streets in the UK and I wish to join millions of other people who condemn this act in the strongest terms.”

It has now transpired that the victim, a man in his twenties, was a serving member of the armed forces. According to witnesses accounts he is believed to have been hit by a car in a busy area of Woolwich outside the army barracks. He was then subjected to an attack by two men possessing various weapons including a machete and a handgun. Two men are believed to have been shot at the scene by the armed response unit from Metropolitan Police. They are now under arrest in a London hospital.

Following the incident there have been, what is believed to be racist attacks on mosques, one in Gillingham and one in Essex.

Mr Idris has appealed for people to be on the look out to discourage rogue elements of society from embarking on a journey of repercussions against innocent people. “This is one of those times when we have to show the strength of our mutual trust that we have generated over the years in our area”, he said.

Free English Language support classesThursday 24th January to Thursday 21st March 2013 (THURSDAYS ONLY) Swansea University – Taliesin Extension Building

ELTS, the department of Swansea University which supports overseas students and provides training for people to be English Language teachers, is again running its popular free English Language support classes from 24th January until the 21st March. The classes are run informally, so there is no registration or forms to fill out, and participants can attend as many, or as few classes as they wish. If participants come to most of the classes, we will issue an attendance certificate.

On this occasion, we are funded to reimburse (in cash) daily bus travel within Swansea (we need to see the ticket or pass).
These free classes are provided for any non-native speaker at pre-intermediate level and upper intermediate level, or above. There are two separate classes, running at the same time. Pre-intermediate students have a basic ability to communicate and understand, but can make much improvement in all areas. Upper-intermediate students have an effective command of English, but this is not perfect, and vocabulary can be extended, grammar fine-tuned and speaking and listening ability can be consolidated.

The teachers taking the classes are all full time Masters students at the university, but will always be monitored by experienced lecturers from ELTS.
Joining the class will give valuable practice in English, and will introduce participants to the wider community of English Language learners in Swansea. And, it’s all free!

We, at SBREC, take pride in being able to celebrate all festivals contributing to the rich mix of cultures, religions and values that people within our area hold dear to them. As it is Christmas time now, we are delighted to wish you all a

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!

We pray that you have a peaceful time both here and in other parts of the world which have yet to see some stability, security and peace.

~ Your Team at Swansea Bay REC

*Please note that Swansea Bay REC will be closed from 12noon on Monday 24th December 2012 until Tuesday 1st January 2012. We will be open for business on Wednesday 2nd January 2012

Department for Work and Pensions have announced that on 19 November 2012, they will launch ‘Universal Jobmatch’ – a new, free* online job posting and matching service.

This new online service will improve their recruitment service for both companies and jobseekers by speeding up the recruitment process, making it quicker and easier for companies to find suitable jobseekers.

Anyone looking for work will be able to set up an account, and create a CV or upload CVs they already have. The new technology will automatically match their CVs and skills to suitable jobs that are posted by companies on the new service.

From 19 November, companies will need to post all their jobs online using Universal Jobmatch, as it is replacing the current Jobcentre Plus vacancy services – Employer Direct, Employer Direct Online and Job Warehouse.

After posting a job, companies will receive a list of suitable jobseekers, ranked by best match first. They can then select the jobseekers they want to apply and invite them to apply online.

Universal Jobmatch will be accessed via GOV.UK which is replacing Businesslink, Business Gateway in Scotland, and Business Wales, and also replaces Directgov for jobseekers. It will be available in Welsh and English.

The Workers Education Association (WEA) has received a major funding boost from the Home Office and European Funds in order for them to provide English language classes in the Swansea Bay area. They are now looking for suitable individuals who can develop their work in coordinating activities for the classes to commence forthwith. Said Elaine Topping, the area Coordinator for WEA, “We are looking for Development Workers for the European funded Regional Essential Skills Project and the Home Office funded ‘English skills for Integration and Learning’ project”. Salaries will be in the region of £21,719 to £27,112. Anyone interested should email WEA directly at hr@weasouthwales.org.ukor telephone WEA’s regional offices.

The new project workers will supplement WEA’s capacity to offer even more English language classes in the area. Currently WEA works in close partnership with Swansea Bay REC to deliver a variety of courses, both at SBREC’s premises in Grove House, Swansea as well as WEA’s own premises in Orchard Street and other community venues.

Swansea Bay REC’s Chief Executive, Taha Idris, OBE has been complementary about the partnership that has achieved so much in the past. He has repeated called for the extension of English language provision in order to enable people to positively contribute to the society that they have made their home. SBREC are due to restart all their courses in partnership with WEA very shortly. He asked for members of the communities to contact SBREC offices (Tel: 01792 457035) as soon as possible to ensure that they can be placed on one of the courses.

Swansea Bay REC held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 11th July 2012 at Swansea University’s Council Chambers. At the AGM, members had the opportunity to elect the organisation’s Chair, Vice Chair and members to serve on the Executive Committee.

Mrs Angella Gullam, RGN from Neath was elected Chair for the second year. Mr Nick Tregoning was elected as the Vice Chair for the ensuing year. Newly elected members of the Executive Committee included Mrs Aisha Rasul Iftikhar (pictured below) as well as Mr Arjan Ali, Dr Minkesh Sood, Mrs Amy Moore and Mr Nick Tregoning (the four pictured right).The meeting was attended by the general members with special guests including Deputy Lord Mayor of Swansea, Cllr June Stanton & Deputy Mayoress, Mayor of Neath Port Talbot, Cllr Martyn Peters, Vice Chancellor of Swansea University, Professor Richard Davies, Police Commander Superintendent Joe Ruddy and Swansea Fire Service Chief Richie Webborn.